If you’ve traveled anywhere among trans or LGBT blogs in the past year or three, you’ve inevitably come across an ongoing battle over labels, and particularly “transgender” as an umbrella term. It seems to be a conflict without end, without middle ground and without compromise. And yet for discourse on human rights and enfranchisement for transsexual and transgender people to move forward at all, at some point that discussion needs to have some sort of resolution, and some thorough dissection of the argument will need to take place. Could an alliance-based approach be a solution? Or more accurately, could enough people on both sides of the argument be willing (that is, to not see their position as immovable) to seek an alliance-based approach for it to make a positive difference in the discourse?

I don’t know. But something that has become clear to me over the past while is that the language is changing. And I don’t have to like it, but I have to understand what that means.

I only speak for myself. In the end, it’s all I really can do anyway. I don’t speak for any trans-related community, don’t speak for The Bilerico Project or any of its other contributors, don’t speak for any other place I’ve posted or published writing, don’t speak for Alberta trans people — just me.

I say that because the international trans community is in a state of flux. As the community defines itself, we’re discovering just how diverse “trans” really is, and just how inadequate any one single definition is when it tries to cover everyone. A result of this is that in 2011, while the mainstream world is just starting to twig on to trans anything, trans and LGBT forums are finding nearly every conversation on trans issues, trans rights, gender studies and identity disintegrating into a debate about “transgender,” its use as an umbrella term, and whether there should even be an umbrella at all. It’s reached the point that it’s stalemated any and every other discussion. And ultimately, I realize that nothing some writer and blogger from Southern Alberta says is going to change that, but I can make my own declaration on the matter. And in that, I speak for myself.

There is no such thing as neutrality. Superficial thinking has confused peace, tolerance, pluralism, multiculturalism and similar ideas with neutrality. But there is no such thing as neutrality.

… The mission of ChristianGovernance is to teach and train Christians to understand the Biblical worldview as well as competing worldviews, and to help Christians translate this understanding into a faithful lifestyle and a compelling witness in this world.

I’ll be live-tweeting the #rapture this Saturday. Or for part of the day, at least. We’ll also have a house to clean, because hey, life goes on.

I do want to make clear, though, that I’m not mocking all Christians or all people of faith. I respect the person of Jesus as the ultimate altruist (and socialist, no matter how much corporate conservatives might try to turn a message of compassion and being community-conscious into “let them pay their own goddamned way”), and respect affirming and mutually-respectful people of faith who honor that one top commandment, to love one another. What I’m mocking is a kind of elitism that takes on the air of the ultimate revenge fantasy, when the elite chosen relish the thought of cheering on their ascent into bliss and our descent into damnation. The kind of elitism that destroyed my traditional family. Continue reading →

I don’t know that I can say it any plainer than that: we need to follow the money. Barney Frank gets it:

“I was pleased when the Financial Services Committee overwhelmingly, in a bipartisan way, voted in favor of my amendment urging the Secretary of the Treasury to oppose any financial assistance from multilateral development institutions to countries that persecute people on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or religious beliefs. In the discussion of the amendment I offered, I specifically mentioned the deeply troubling case of Uganda, which is now considering legislation to legally deprive people of these basic human rights.”

“If the bill before the Ugandan parliament becomes law, it must be the policy of the United States government to oppose any aid to Uganda from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, or any other international financial institution of which we are a member.”

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill has been rescheduled for a vote on Friday. And even Martin “graphic poo porn” Ssempa has called for the death penalty to be removed (probably because of the media attention that has caused) and replaced with a 7-year sentence. Because in the end, the forces that are driving this bill aren’t so interested in actually killing and imprisoning LGBT people as they are in a nice little side benefit. Continue reading →

As Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party seek a majority mandate, there is no shortage of speculation on either side of the map as to what a non-progressive Conservative majority would look like in Canada. By some accounts, we’d see a new capitalist utopia of crime fighting and McJob creation. By others, we’d see a social agenda unleashed which, now completely unbridled, would rewrite Canada into a Christian Nationalist dictatorship.

Update: This article has been revised and reposted. This was originally done in response to a concern raised that even though I discourage retaliation, naming names might inspire someone to do so. Which is not my intent. But in removing those sections, the narrative changed, and had to be rewritten for the sake of flow. Comments on the original post also displayed a huge amount of Islamophobia, so it became necessary to address that as well. So the post has changed, but the premise remains the same.

Replies to this post will be moderated, due to the escalating level of bigotry displayed in response to the original post (most of which have been left in the moderation queue). I’m not big on censorship and believe in free speech in Canada, but this is my place, and I won’t have it turned into a platform for bigotry aimed at minorities. That’s my prerogative. (And Jadis, I’m a little confused as to whether your threat was meant for me or for a commenter, but neither scenario is appropriate). I also reiterate that I am not likewise aiming bias at Christians: my issue is with efforts from a small group which is not representative of all people of faith to assert any one specific faith system as law and dictate to everyone else how they should live their lives or whether they even should have a place in our society.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper keeps trying to assure voters that he won’t reopen social debates like abortion and same-sex marriage, since he knows that won’t earn him mainstream votes. Instead, he tries to run on a platform of crime punishment and McJob creation. And yet if one looks further, one overturns a rock which reveals a political base that is a coalition of usually-divided groups working together to oppose social progress. In part one, we saw what led to the rise of the new Conservatives. Here, we’re mapping out the network that makes up his base. Continue reading →

THE DEATH OF THE TRANSGENDER UMBRELLA: "If you've traveled anywhere among trans or LGBT blogs in the past year or three, you've inevitably come across an ongoing battle over labels, and particularly "transgender" as an umbrella term. It seems to be a conflict without end, without middle ground and without compromise..."

Blog Stats

The Microaggressions Project in solidarity with #Baltimore, #Ferguson, and #BlackLivesMatter. As we always say here, the micro only matters because of the macro systems of injustice. (Large image link here)

I hate St. Patrick’s Day because of a bad experience I had at about 11 or 12. I was coming back from a concert a few cities over along with my mom and some friends and Ikea was on our way so we stopped because we didn’t have one near us at the time. It was the 17th and i was not wearing green. All through the busy store random people, primarily adults, kept […]

“I don’t get why you’re excluding me like this. I’m Jewish; I know oppression.” - A peer to me (a black male) in the midst of a discussion on discrimination and privilege. He is a white male, the son of two doctors, who went to boarding school and is attending an Ivy League university. I was raised by a waitress mother in the inner city and am attending comm […]